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I’m trying to bake off-recipe these days. Taking what I’ve learned over the past however many years and just trying stuff out. I went to a dinner party last week and wanted to bring a dessert. Something comforting (it’s cold here) and warm and seasonal. I didn’t have a lot of time…crumble? Or something a bit special?

I decided to make a crumble…er, tart? It’s base is a mix of toasted pecans and hazelnuts, chestnut flour, melted butter, rolled oats, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. I then filled it with a vanilla and mandarin infused custard and layered thin slices of pear and apple on top. Then, to be a fancy pants, I made a rose out of thinly sliced apples and placed it in the middle. And then to be extra fancy pants, I made a salted caramel sauce. And admittedly, I had to make a second batch because I melted the rubber spatula in the first batch. Woops.

Anyways, this is how it worked out:

Apple and Pear Crumble Tart

The verdict was that the tart was a success. It was gobbled up pretty quickly and I’m pretty happy that I can now bake and cook without a recipe and have it turn out, well, pretty damn tasty.

Last week I hosted a small brunch crew and made a pumpkin pie stuffed french toast. I don’t want to brag, but it was pretty EPIC.